After breaking Brett Favre’s 4-year-old record, NFL legends and current players — Favre included — congratulated the Broncos’ quarterback on his feat, while many others expressed their awe via Twitter. To wit:

BRETT FAVRE
“I want to say congratulations for breaking the touchdown record — I’m not surprised. You’ve been a wonderful player and I’ve enjoyed watching you play, I’ve enjoyed competing against you. I wish you a great success for the rest of the season and the rest of your career. But again, congratulations.”

FRAN TARKENTON
“Well Peyton, it’s official. Your ducks have crossed the end zone more than anybody else’s. But really, congratulations, nobody has ever played the quarterback position better than you have. It’s been a pleasure to sit back every Sunday and watch you play. People love to debate, ‘Who is the greatest quarterback, the greatest player?’ It’s impossible to compare across all the generations and eras. But I know this, nobody can ever leave Peyton Manning out of that discussion about who is the greatest quarterback. Congratulations, Peyton.”

The Broncos face a formidable 49ers team on Sunday in primetime, one that poses challenges for Denver on both ends of the field.

But the talk of the week — of the month, rather — has been Peyton Manning. And for good reason: The man has thrown 506 regular-season touchdowns and is only three shy of breaking Brett Favre’s all-time record (508). Manning could likely snap it Sunday, but no matter if its this weekend or next, he will break it.

This week, former NFL quarterback great Brett Favre merged his foundation that aids disadvantaged children with his wife Deanna’s charity for breast cancer and called it Favre For Hope. That charity also teamed with Sqor.com this week to raise $810,000 in the last four days.

“Her having breast cancer years ago, it’s near and dear to her heart,” Favre said Wednesday. “And then my charity, which we started when we were in Wisconsin, benefits disadvantaged children with school, playgrounds, medical, you name it. We joined forces and are trying to raise money for both. I’m proud to say we’ve raised and donated over $8 million (since their charities’ inception).”

Peyton Manning needs only six touchdowns to snap Brett Favre’s career touchdown passing record (508), a feat that could come as soon as Sunday when the Broncos face the Jets at MetLife Stadium.

As Peyton closes in on the record, his father and idol to Favre, Archie Manning, joined The Press Box on Thursday to share his thoughts.

“We are proud of Peyton and we really feel blessed — I think Peyton feels blessed — that he’s still playing football,” Archie said. “He had a good run there in Indy, but four neck surgeries and we didn’t know, and for him, he worked hard and wanted to play again. I think the good Lord blessed him and allowed him to play again and put him in a good spot. So, yeah, we’re really proud.

“I got a text last Sunday from Fran Tarkenton, and Fran said — I don’t think Fran would mind me saying this — but Fran said, ‘My hero was Johnny Unitas, and Johnny threw 300 touchdowns. I was proud that I threw for 342, but it’s really special for Peyton to reach 500 touchdowns.’

“So we’re proud. He’s been fortunate to stay healthy and play with a lot of good people. I do laugh — he doesn’t do it much — but somebody started talking about all the people who had caught his touchdowns, and there are some guys on there that I had totally forgotten about. A tight end who had played for the Colts for one year or something like that. I see every game and I can’t remember.”Read more…

Given the Jets’ paltry track record of late, it’s not out of the question that Manning could snap the record Sunday at MetLife Stadium. He’s thrown for five or more touchdowns in a game five times in his career.

But if he doesn’t do it Sunday, it’s likely he’ll break the record at home, against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Oct. 19, or against the Chargers the following.

Peyton Manning stands on history’s welcome mat. He carries a football in his right arm, and with one flick of the wrist, will enter immortality. Manning’s next touchdown pass will be his 500th, a club which includes Brett Favre as its only existing member. Favre owns 509 touchdowns, meaning Manning should soon hold the all-time record.

I had two immediate thoughts upon learning Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning had been named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.

One, I was surprised he hadn’t previously been so honored. He’s won just about everything else in his terrific career — including a Super Bowl MVP, by the way — with the notable exception of the Heisman Trophy. And besides his brilliance as an NFL quarterback, Manning has such mass appeal. No athlete is better in commercials or as a host on “Saturday Night Live.”

But my second thought was, why this year when Manning has yet to win a championship? Not that S.I. always give its franchise award to champions, but it usually does. LeBron James won it last year. Drew Brees (2010), Tom Brady (2005), Joe Montana (1990) and Terry Bradshaw (1979) were coming off Super Bowl championships in the years they were honored.

This honor may trump a fifth NFL MVP award. Sports Illustrated announced Sunday that Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is its Sportsman of the Year for 2013.

Manning, 37, is the first Bronco and first Denver athlete to receive the prestigious award. He is in the midst of an unprecedented comeback from four neck surgeries that forced him to miss the entire 2011 season with the Indianapolis Colts, an injury that led to his release, free agency, and new chapter in his career with the Denver Broncos.

Peyton Manning looks to the Denver bench in disbelief after running back Montee Ball fumbled at the 3-yard-line against the Giants. More photos. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

It happened on the Broncos’ disappointing first drive of Sunday’s game, which ended in a Montee Ball fumble in the end zone, and Manning joined the company of just Brett Favre and Dan Marino when he reached 60,000 yards. It’s hardly shabby company, and the Broncos’ QB was the fastest of the three to reach the landmark.

At the end of the first half of Sunday’s game, Manning had 60,149 yards on his career. Sunday marks the second game of his 16th season (226 starts).

Peyton Manning throwing one of his seven TDs against the Ravens. (Dustin Bradford, Getty Images)

The NFL informed the Broncos Wednesday morning that quarterback Peyton Manning was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his 462-yard, 7-TD effort in last Thursday’s 49-27 defeat of the Ravens.

In the game, Manning completed 27 passes for a 64.3 completion percentage, and his 462 yards tied him for third most of any Broncos quarterback in a single game. No quarterback has thrown more than seven touchdowns in a game, and the last to reach seven was Minnesota’s Joe Knapp in 1969.

Wednesday marks the 24th time Manning has won a conference offensive player of the week nod, which passes Tom Brady for most all-time. Brady has 23, Dan Marino 18, Drew Brees and Brett Favre 16 and John Elway 15.

Strange isn’t it? Peyton Manning has 147 regular-season wins, tied with Dan Marino for third all-time. John Elway is second with 148 wins.

so Manning can tie Elway with a win today against the San Diego Chargers. From Elway’s perspective — go get me, Peyton. Elway didn’t invest $58 million over three years in Manning for the former Colts quarterback to NOT pass all his records.

This is case of two guys helping each other. If Manning wins, Elway wins as an executive. Even if he loses a slot on the all-time list.

No. 1 on the all-time list, by the way, is Brett Favre with 186. That would take some doing for Manning. He’d need to average 11 wins through four seasons with the Broncos to get there. But at this moment it appears doable.

As another preview of the the Denver Broncos’ giant-sized 14-page preview section coming Wednesday in The Denver Post, we look at NFL’s best ever QBs.

With likely Hall of Famer Peyton Manning joining the Broncos this season, we asked a Denver Post panel of experts to pick its top 10 NFL quarterbacks of all time. Voting based on 10 points for the top pick, 9 for No. 2, etc.

Would you re-rank them? Anybody missing? How do the old-time QBs compare to the modern era?

Baltimore _ A little more special Happy Birthday _ you know, given the 10-10-’10 dealy _ to those born on this day. One is Brett Favre, who is 41 today. He won’t be playing on his birthday. The Vikings’ QB plays tomorrow night against the New York Jets.

Another is my daughter Kaitlyn, who is 20 today. It’s not altogether an accident she was born on this day. Her mother was due to deliver on Oct. 24 but because she had settled on having a C-section, the doc wanted to arrange the welcoming up to two weeks early.

We had several dates to choose from but we picked Oct. 10 because, you know, it made Kaitlyn’s birth date 10-10-’90.

I didn’t realize at the time that 20 years later, it would be 10-10-’10 but what do you know?

Mike Klis has been with The Denver Post since 1998, after working 13 years with the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. Major League Baseball was Klis' initial passion. He started covering the Colorado Rockies after Coors Field was approved for construction in August 1990.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times. She has reported regularly on the Broncos since joining the staff.

A published author and award-winning journalist, Benjamin Hochman is a sports columnist for The Denver Post. He previously worked on the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winners of two Pulitzer Prizes for their Hurricane Katrina coverage.